The present invention relates generally to vehicle navigation systems.
Current vehicle navigation systems may include a variety of position determining devices, such as GPS receivers, accelerometers, gyros, speedometers, compasses, etc. in order to determine the position of the vehicle relative to a database of roads. As is well-known, a user selects a destination in the database of roads and the navigation system guides the user along the roads to the destination. The known navigation systems permit the user to select a destination by category. For example, the user can select the category of xe2x80x9crestaurantsxe2x80x9d at which point restaurants in a selected area or the closest restaurants will be displayed. Upon selection of the desired restaurant, the navigation system will guide the user via the roads in the database to the destination. Currently, only the name of the restaurant is displayed, without any additional information. Thus, the user""s decision about which restaurant to select must be based completely on the name of the restaurant. This is particularly difficult for the user in an unknown area selecting among restaurants other than national franchises.
Some current navigation systems guide the user to the destination via turn-by-turn instructions. Many users of vehicle navigation systems are travelers from out of town (and sometimes from out of the country) who are renting a vehicle in an area where they are unfamiliar with the roads and surrounding points of interest. Travelers from out of the country may understand little or none of the audible instructions originally installed in the navigation system because they are in a language other than their own, thus diminishing the value of the audible instruction.
Currently, it is impractical for rental car agencies to remove or disable permanently installed vehicle navigation systems from vehicles for renters who did not request (and pay for) the vehicle navigation system. As a result, potential revenue from rental fees for navigation systems may be lost.
Similarly, some vehicle navigation systems include a database of roads for nine or more geographic areas in the United States; however, typically, only one or a few of these geographic areas are enabled on the system purchased by the consumer, depending upon where the consumer intends to use the system. Thus, although it would be particularly useful, the consumer may be unable to utilize the navigation system in geographic areas to which the consumer may travel only occasionally for vacation.
These and other drawbacks of known navigation systems are overcome by the navigation system of the present invention. The present invention provides a vehicle navigation system with location-based multimedia annotations (text, graphics and/or audio) in several different ways. First, xe2x80x9cadsxe2x80x9d comprising location-based multimedia annotations are periodically presented. These ads are presented based upon the current location of the vehicle relative to a location with which the ad is associated. Some ads are displayed at power-up independent of vehicle location, as will be explained below. The user also has the ability to request additional information associated with the ad. The additional information may be stored on the database of the navigation system, read by a removable media reader connected to the navigation system or received via a wireless communication system on the vehicle. This additional information may include text, graphics, audio and/or multimedia presentations which relate to the ad selected by the user.
The navigation system of the present invention further provides a removable media reader which reads information from a removable media and provides that information to the navigation system, which operates based upon that information. For example, the removable media may include prestored routes, destinations, and additional location-based multimedia annotations. The navigation system of the present invention also provides a wireless communication system which provides the ads and the additional information to the navigation system and its user. The ads may be utilized to help defray the cost of the navigation system to the purchaser or user.
The removable media may also include audio data, such as audible turn instructions in a language other than that previously stored on the navigation system. The removable media may also include a code or codes which enable the navigation system or at least some functions of the navigation system. The code may be time specific, such that it only enables the system for a predetermined time period, or it may be geographically specific, such that it enables the navigation system to access additional geographic areas in its database. Alternatively, the code may be entered via the user input device.
It should be noted that there are many inventive features described here, many of which could be practiced alone, or in different combinations with the others as described. Those of reasonable skill in the art could determine ways of practicing any one or any combination of these features, which would still be considered part of the present invention.